Titanomachy
by Romantic Warrior 1999
Summary: When death and darkness loom, Heroes will rise and return.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own HALO or Attack On Titan.**

[-]

 **TITANOMACHY:**

 **CHAPTER 1:**

 **FALL AND RISE** **:**

[-]

In a small, dark interrogation room, an elderly woman sat next to a table. The woman gave off a blank stare as she remembered memories of long ago. Her face, depicting exhaustion and solemnity.

As the woman continued to stare off, a man—hidden in the shadows of the interrogation room—spoke up. "Tell me about the children." The woman didn't seem to hear him. "Doctor Halsey?" The man inquired.

The woman—Doctor Halsey—looked in the direction of her interrogator, giving him a defiant look. "You already know everything." She spoke coolly.

The interrogator took the response as a sign to continue. "You kidnapped them."

"Children's minds are more easily accepting of indoctrination," Doctor Halsey explained. "Their bodies more adaptable to augmentation. The result was the ultimate soldier. And because of our success, when the Covenant invaded, we were ready."

But the interrogator narrowed his eyes at the old woman. "Doctor Halsey, you're bending history in your favor and you know it. You created the Spartans to crush human rebellion, not to fight the Covenant."

But the woman was adamant in her stance. "When one Human world after another fell, my Spartans were all that stood between humanity and extinction. Nobody was concerned over why they were originally built."

"So you feel in the end your choices was justified."

Doctor Halsey calmly sat forward, clasping her hands together. "My work saved the human race."

"Do you think the Spartans' lack of basic humanity helped?"

The question seemed to unnerve Halsey. She stared at the man with a worried expression. "What are you after? The others before you were Naval Intelligence, but you…you're something else…"

The interrogator ignored Doctor Halsey and went on. "Records show Spartans routinely exhibited mildly sociopathic tendencies, difficulty with socialization. Further—."

"First off…" Doctor Halsey snapped, cutting off the interrogator. "The records show efficient behavior in operating in hazardous situations. Secondly, you and I both know that one of them is not like that."

"One Spartan does not speak for all, Doctor. The Dragon was the exception and he's dead." The man replied. "But back to what I was saying: Do you believe that the Master Chief succeeded because he was at his core, broken?"

"What does John have to do with this?" Halsey demanded. Then her expression of demand turned into one of horror as it dawned on her. "You want to replace him."

"The Master Chief is dead, as well as any who were as strong."

"All of their files read 'missing in action.'" The Doctor corrected sharply, betraying a hint of anger in her calm voice.

"Catherine, _'Spartans never die_. _'_ " The man retaliated with the famous motto in an almost mocking tone.

"Your mistake is seeing Spartans as military hardware. My Spartans are Humanity's next step." Then the doctor stood straight up and looked her interrogator in the eyes. When she spoke, her voice was unwavering and full of conviction. "They are our destiny as a species. Do not underestimate them. But most of all, do not underestimate _him_."

[-]

In the dark vastness of space, the rear half of the _Forward Unto Dawn_ drifted. It floated weightlessly through the cold void of space. Surrounding the ship were pieces of wreckage, mangled and torn metal, displaying the signs of battle. This ship appeared to one have served a great purpose. Signs of its former glory could be seen from the debris orbiting it and by its vastness.

Now, it floated about. Cold. Dark. Forgotten. Abandoned. In its current state, it was a heap of trash. But even in death, the ship still had a purpose.

Deep within the metal confines lined with wires and lights, the ship sheltered two survivors. Both of these survivors had quite an interesting duo.

The first survivor was a man-made artificial intelligence, or A.I. for short. CTN 0452-9, commonly referred to as Cortana, was an exceptional A.I. She had an intellect unlike any human or A.I., matched only by her sharp wit and humorous tongue.

The second survivor was a Spartan II, one of the greatest soldiers that Humanity ever created. But it was not just any Spartan II. It was none other than Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan-117, better known as the Master Chief. This was the super-soldier that was renowned throughout Humanity as its champion, and to the Covenant as _demon_. Truly, a more honorable, disciplined and deadly soldier could not be found in the galaxy.

Both Master Chief and Cortana had been stranded in uncharted space for over four years, drifting aimlessly. The UNSC had more than likely declared the two as dead, killed in the collapse of the slip-space portal or from the detonation of the HALO ring. And so, no help came and their drift went on.

But something unusual had had happened. The wreckage of the ship had entered the gravitational field of a planet. This planet, as it happened, bore great resemblance to the birthplace of Humanity, Earth. Despite its appearance, the planet was not the Earth that the survivors belonged to. There were no stations or satellites orbiting the planet, and no ships coming out to salvage the wreckage. Instead, the ship simply continued on its path towards the planet. As it drew nearer, the remaining undamaged sensors on the ship began to go off, alerting Cortana.

Deep within the Cryogenic Chamber, Cortana's avatar materialized upon a pedestal. Her avatar form took on the appearance of a blue, nude, young woman with lines of light spanning across her entire body. Despite the fact that Cortana was a system, one could not deny her attractive form. She brought up the ship's systems and began to peruse them. She soon found that they were approaching the planet, albeit at a slow speed.

Then, out of nowhere, Cortana flickered for a moment. She appeared slightly pained by it, but brushed it off. She couldn't allow it to inhibit her objectives. Speaking of which, the first one was to awaken her slumbering friend.

Cortana brought up the systems to the Cryogenic Chamber and found the pod Master Chief was in. The A.I. stared at the "Reactivate" button for a few seconds, showing slight hesitation. But her fingers found their way to the button and tapped it. The systems were replaced by a single word:

 _ACTIVE_.

The holographic console disappeared as Cortana slowly turned and looked at a frost encrusted pod. Steam started to come off of it and the frost started to melt. Cortana watched the thawing process with somberness. "Wake up, Chief…" She whispered. " _I need you_."

The frost covering the pod's cover disappeared, beholding the Master Chief.

His physical appearance was a rather unique one. He wore a green and black, full-body armor; the "MJOLNIR Mark 6", which was the most advanced and powerful armor the UNSC had ever crafted. It was slightly clunky and angled, but it had some curves and segments that managed to offer an aerodynamic look. His helmet-which was the signature feature of his armor-was the same as his armor, and adorned with a golden, reflective visor.

At first, the soldier didn't stir. Then his head moved slightly, groaning as he did so. Beneath the helmet, the Spartan's eyes opened to a dark haze. He blinked a few times to clear up his vision. Then his adrenaline kicked in. His eyes snapped open and he lunged forward, his hands meeting the glass cover. For a second, the Spartan didn't know where he was.

"Chief!" Cortana called out to her friend. "Take it easy. You've been out for a while." The A.I. explained, trying to calm him down.

The Spartan looked over to the pedestal, at Cortana. His A.I. companion's words appeared to have effect and he soon remembered. Having come to his senses, the Spartan dropped his hands and took a deep breath. He leaned back against his pod's rest. He was awake. With that bit of knowledge in mind, he looked back at Cortana and decided to get down to business. "Where are we?" asked Chief.

Cortana smiled, relieved that her friend was alright. It was just like Chief to take charge of the situation. "We're still adrift on the Dawn." she explained.

"Why did you wake me?"

"Hang on." Cortana answered as she brought up a new holographic console. "Bringing your systems online now." She then proceeded to tap numerous buttons on the console. As she did this, Chief stretched slightly and flexed, reacquainting himself with his body. Seconds later, Cortana finished activating the MJOLNIR's systems. "I rewrote your suit's firmware while you were out." she explained.

"You've been busy." Chief commented with a hint of dry humor.

Cortana didn't seem to notice Chief's attempt at humor. Her world revolved around the monitor in front of her. "Activating artificial gravity now." She informed Chief.

A second later, the debris that had been floating about in the Cryogenic Chamber fell to the ground. The objects clattered onto the metal floor, their weight meaning something for the first time in years.

Cortana turned her attention back onto Chief. "Chief, look up." She instructed. "You need to pull the manual release."

The Spartan did as he was told and looked up. He saw the manual release lever above him. Chief then reached out, grabbed and pulled the lever. There was a mechanical hiss and the cryo-pod cover opened. He hopped out of his so-called "bed" for the first time in years, taking a few uncertain steps toward the pedestal. Having spent so much time in cryo-sleep, he almost collapsed under his own weight, his body still adjusting to being mobile again.

With some effort, Chief reached Cortana and her pedestal.

She gave her usual grin as the Spartan stood in front of her. "Seems like old times."

Chief nodded. "Ready to get back to work?" He asked.

The A.I. crossed her arms and leaned in a sassy manner, a witty grin on her face. "I thought you'd never ask." She responded.

Chief reached out and yanked Cortana's A.I. chip from the pedestal. The A.I.'s avatar disappeared from sight in a flash. Then the Spartan took the chip and inserted it into the slot on the back of his helmet. A second later, Cortana appeared in the corner of Chief's HUD.

"Alright, so what's happening?" Chief asked. The Spartan knew that Cortana wouldn't wake him up from cryo-sleep unless she had a reason.

"Head for the Observation Deck," Cortana replied. "I'll explain on the way."

Chief complied, heading for the Cryogenic Chamber's exit. On his way, he spotted an M6H Magnum Pistol on the floor, as well an MA5C Assault Rifle. He bent down and picked both weapons up. He inspected both the pistol and the assault rifle, checking to see if they were in operating condition. Finding no problems with them, he placed the pistol on his hip and the assault rifle on his back. One never knew what could happen.

Then the two exited the Chamber before proceeded to navigate the winding halls and corridors of the ship. The lights were on, shining dimly as they lit the way. However there were some areas that held no light and the only sounds that could be heard were Chief's breath and footsteps.

"How long was I out?" Chief asked, breaking the eerie silence.

"Four years, seven months, ten days." Cortana replied.

"Somebody should've found us by now." He said. The fact that they had been adrift for over four years without having been found gave the Spartan an uneasy feeling.

"I don't think that's possible." Cortana interjected. "I've reviewed the star charts from the ships sensors. There aren't any constellations or stars that match any database. We're in unknown waters, Chief."

"If that's the case, then why did you wake me up?"

"Because a few days ago, I found that we were on course towards a planet. The kicker…it's 93.8 percent identical to Earth."

Chief raised an eyebrow at this. "Why only 93 percent?"

"Get this, from what I've seen, the planet's atmosphere contains natural ozone. Which isn't possible, considering that a natural ozone layer hasn't existed since Earth a couple hundred years back. There's also no city lights or pollution."

Chief nodded. This was getting interesting. "Is the planet capable of sustaining life?"

"From what I've seen, it should. Scans indicate good amounts of oxygen, hydrogen and carbon on the planet." Cortana answered Chief's question. "If there is life on the planet, it has to be relatively primitive since no one's sent a ship, let alone contacted us."

Chief was quiet. He was processing what he had heard just now. He had been in all sorts of situations in the past, but he had to admit that this was a new one. A planet similar to Earth this far out in space? He was surprised it wasn't colonized. Then again the UNSC had had its hands full trying to prevent Humanity's extinction. So it was to be expected that it be overlooked.

The duo eventually reached the Observation Deck after going up multiple stairwells and corridors. The automated doors slid open with a hiss and Chief entered the enormous room. He walked up to the main console, high above on a platform. Upon reaching the console, he pulled Cortana out and inserted her into it. She appeared in her avatar form a moment later

"I'll open the shades." Cortana said. The large metal curtains moved and slid away.

The sight that befell the Spartan was that of the planet. It looked just like Earth, but it held a certain untainted beauty that the Earth he knew didn't have.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Cortana smiled.

"I wonder if the same could be said for the planet's surface." Chief commented with skepticism. They still had no idea what awaited them on this Earth look-alike. "Please tell me there's another reason we're here besides sightseeing."

Cortana made a face, peeved that Chief didn't want to enjoy the moment. "As a matter of fact, there is. There's some programs and data that I want to take with us. Plus a special project…"

Chief tilted his head in curiosity. "Just what special project?"

"A-bup-bup! No opening of presents before Christmas." Cortana teased playfully.

The Master Chief deadpanned at her joke and sighed. Sometimes the Chief felt that her sense of humor was a bit too much. This was one of those times. "Fine. Just hurry it up."

"Patience is a virtue." Cortana countered. "Just a few more things…and…done!" She turned her attention back to Chief. "We're good to go!"

Chief reached out and pulled Cortana out of the console and replaced her back into his helmet.

The A.I. reappeared back in the corner of Chief's HUD before getting down to business. "So with that out of the way, we can proceed to our next objective. This ship's going down and there's no guarantee that it'll land in one piece. So our best bet for us is to gather some supplies and disembark the ship via one of the leftover escape pods. Once we're planet side, we'll determine our next move."

Chief nodded. The plan was simple and straightforward. But there was one thing… He raised an eyebrow at Cortana. "When you say we'll gather supplies, you meant _I'll_ gather supplies, didn't you?"

Cortana grinned. "Oh, come on… I'm the dashing brains who cracks advanced systems and codes. _You're_ the rugged brawn who does the fighting and heavy-lifting."

Chief just shook his head. "Why do I feel like I will always have _someone_ there to tease me?" Chief asked rhetorically. Then he smiled sadly. _Just how long has he been dead for? Five years?_ He added in silence.

Cortana saw her friend's pained expression. She knew _who_ he was thinking about. To be honest, she couldn't believe it when she heard either. " _Hey_ …" She said soothingly. "I miss _him_ too. But now we need to focus on what's in front of us. We can mourn another time."

Chief hardened his face. "Let's go." He said, changing the subject abruptly. Then he walked back to the exit and the doors opened with a hiss. He walked past the doors and they closed behind him.

[-]

As events transpired in the stars above, a trio of wide-eyed teens stared up at them. Once, these three were terrified children. But now they had grown up to be promising soldiers.

"Wow." Armin whispered in awe, looking up at the night sky above. "They're really standing out tonight." The blue-eyed boy commented upon the beauty of the stars. "You know when I was younger, I once tried to count all of the stars in the sky. But I soon got tired and fell asleep. I don't even remember what number I counted up to…"

Eren laughed. "Yeah… I know what you mean. It's like counting how many raindrops fall when it rains. Or how many hairs there are on someone's head." He admitted, having tried once or twice in his childhood.

"I once managed to count all the hairs on a man's head." Mikasa, Eren's adopted sister, chimed in with usual emotionless voice.

Eren and Armin looked at the emotionless girl with shock. Mikasa was generally more skilled than the both of them, but not that skilled. But it was also given that Mikasa didn't lie.

"Incredible!" Armin said excitedly. "How many did you count?"

"Three." She replied nonchalantly as Eren and Armin deadpanned. "He was a very bald man." Mikasa explained.

"That doesn't count!" Eren scolded his sister.

"Yes it does." She retorted calmly. "You never said _whose_ hair you were counting."

Eren scowled as he looked away. Normally he would debate with Mikasa longer, but his thoughts were overshadowed by another matter. Soon he and his friends would be graduating from their military training. When that happened, their lives were going to change.

Soon, the time would come where they would have to choose what branch of the Military that they would want to join. When that happened, they would be scattered all over the Walls. There was a chance that Eren might not see his friends ever again. So he was doing his best not to argue with them, so as not to spoil the time they had left together.

He sighed and looked back up at the stars. It had been five years since the Fall of Shinganshima. Five years since the giant man-eating monsters known as Titans broke through his home and took Wall Maria. And five years since he saw his mother die.

Unlike his fellow trainees, there was no question what path he would take. He would join the Survey Corps. It wasn't a difficult choice. He had had his eyes set on them ever since he was a young boy. They were always going beyond the Walls, seeing the outside world. And they were the only branch of the Military that actually fought anymore. If he was to have his revenge, it would be through the Survey Corps.

"Soon…" Eren whispered under his breath. "Soon we'll take it all back." He was sure of it.

[-]

In the meantime, in another part of the city, Commander Erwin Smith of the Survey Corps was taking another glance at the charts in front of him. In a few days, the young Commander would be leading the Survey Corps on yet another expedition in the Wall Maria territory. He was taking the time to adjust some minor details in the formation.

As Erwin was looking at the charts, his second-in-command, Captain Reveille "Levi" Ackerman, entered. The Commander gave a nod, acknowledging his presence before turning back to the charts.

"We've received all the supplies needed." Levi informed his Commander. "Gas, blades, flare pellets–everything we need."

Erwin nodded, satisfied with the update. "Good…" he muttered absentmindedly.

Levi looked at Erwin' who was hunched over the table. "You should put those away." Levi told Erwin. "It's late. Try to get some rest. God knows we'll need it when we go out."

"Rest will amount to nothing if we're not prepared." Erwin responded. "Which is why I am making sure we are."

"And we'll fail if we don't have a leader to guide us." Levi informed his Commander sharply. The Captain's words seemed to have effect on Erwin who looked up. Levi took advantage of this attention. "If you're not rested and aware during the expedition, you'll make the wrong decisions. When you make the wrong decisions, more people than usual die."

Erwin stared at Levi. Then he sighed' putting down his pencil. He smiled weakly. "You're right. An army without a leader is lost."

"I knew you'd come around."

"It's just… It's been five years. Five years since Maria fell. We have a route planned and our technology has advanced slightly. But I see no end in sight."

Levi looked at his Commander. "Now's not the time to think about that. We'll worry later. Now get your sorry ass to your quarters before I drag you there myself." he threatened.

"Fine. Fine." Erwin capitulated, raising his arms as a sign of surrender. He stood up and went around his desk. The Commander walked over to his longtime comrade and the two exited the room, closing the door behind them.

[-]

Master Chief was carrying a crate filled with ammunition to the Escape Pod. The Spartan had spent the last few hours loading a variety of weapons and supplies onto the Pod. He didn't know what the situation was on the planet, but it was best to be prepared.

With a grunt of effort, he placed the crate down into the pod and secured it. Escape Pod's were more for the purpose of quick evacuation rather than transportation, so unless any equipment was secured, it would fly all over the place.

Then Chief stepped back and examined his work. He had loaded up as much supplies as he could in the amount of time he had. It wasn't a lot, but with careful rationing and temperance, he could make it last.

"Well, I guess that's everything." Cortana chimed in.

Chief nodded. "Yeah. If what you said about the planet is true, then we can hope that there's edible food down there."

"Ah. See, I don't have to worry about sleep or food." Cortana said playfully. "So you're on your own with those."

Chief let out a small laugh. "I don't need to worry." He replied wittily. With his Spartan enhancements, Chief never really needed food all that often. His metabolism had been enhanced so much to the point, that he could survive for days-weeks, if need be—without any food or water.

"That's everything." Chief reported. "Time to go." The Spartan then stepped into the pod. The door closed with a hiss, pressurizing the pod. Chief walked over to the front of the Pod and inserted Cortana into the controls. Then Chief sat in the pilot seat and put on the safety harness.

The Pod's systems and controls beeped a couple of times before Cortana spoke. "Here we go." She said.

There was a hiss and a sudden lurch as the Escape Pod shot off the Dawn. Its thrusters activated and the craft began to fly away from the ship.

Soon the wreckage of the ship began to gain speed as the gravity increased. Slowly building up until it reached the point of no return.

A minute later the rear-end of the _Forward Unto Dawn_ entered the atmosphere.

[-]

"It's getting late…" Armin murmured to his friends. "We should start heading back." Despite the three becoming soldiers in a matter of days, the restrictions of curfew still applied to them. The last thing that any one of the friends wanted was a session with their instructor.

Eren nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we should."

Eren Mikasa and Armin rose from their spots on the ground. They quickly dusted off their clothes and began to head in the direction of the barracks.

Despite the late hour, the citizens of the city were anything but dormant. The bars and pubs were still open and filled customers. Families were returning from friendly visits. There were even some fellow cadets who were making a hasty return to the barracks as well.

As the three were walking, they passed by a family. Eren watched as a father carried his sleeping son. As the boy watched the family pass, a twang of sadness grabbed at his heart. It reminded him of his own family and brought back even more memories of life before that day.

 _How long has it been since I was carried like that?_ Eren wondered to himself. The boy was lucky, he didn't know the loss of a mother or a father.

Speaking of fathers, Eren became more aware of the weight around his neck. He grabbed the string and pulled out a key from under his shirt. The key was special, long ago it was what locked the mysterious basement in his old house. It was also a reminder of the last time he had seen his father, even though he didn't remember it exactly.

Eren's thoughts were soon interrupted as he heard a sound. He stopped and listened. At first it was like a faint hum. Then it grew into a steady rumble. Eren saw the pebbles on the ground clattering across the floor and the windows vibrate.

Armin noticed Eren behind him. "Hey, Eren-!" Armin called out but stopped when he saw Eren raise up his hand to silence him.

"Do you hear that?" Eren asked.

His friends stopped and listened. The sound was getting louder and louder. The people in the street stopped and listened to the sound. Others came out from their homes and those who were sleeping peered out of their windows.

"What is it?" Mikasa asked.

"Where's it coming from?" Eren questioned as he looked around. The sound had now evolved from a rumble to an almost deafening roar, but even then, its source could not be seen. Then the night sky was illuminated with an orange glow. And Eren would never forget what he saw next.

High in the night sky, a humongous ball of fire flew over the city. As it soared the ball of fire rumbled and shook the earth. The citizens of Trost watched the fireball with wide eyes. People screamed in terror and hid. Others stood where they were, mesmerized by the light.

" _What is that?!_ " Armin exclaimed in terror.

"I don't know." Eren answered quietly. He was in a trance-like manner, watching the glorious orange fireball. As he watched it, Eren had this strange feeling. It was almost like the fireball was a sign. An _omen_ …

He just didn't know what the omen was for.

[-]

Erwin and Levi were on their way to the barracks. The two had a long few days ahead of them and they were going to need as much rest as possible.

Suddenly, Erwin stopped in his tracks. "Do you hear something?" Erwin asked Levi.

Levi looked at Erwin. "Now that you mention it…"

Unfortunately, Levi did not get a chance to finish his statement. For at that moment, a huge ball of fire flew over the two officers of the Survey Corps. They looked up at the night sky, transfixed by the fiery occurrence above. And just as quickly as it came, it just as quickly passed.

However, Erwin was intrigued by the sudden phenomena. Without looking at Levi, he ran off, heading in the direction of the comet.

Levi watched Erwin run the street for a few seconds before following. _Knowing him, he'll probably do something stupid or insane._ Levi thought to himself.

The two soldiers ran through the street. As they ran through the streets of Trost, they saw citizens all over cowering at the strange occurrence. Some were already speaking to one another and heading in the direction of where the comet was going.

The fireball soon passed Wall Rose and entered the Maria Territory. The sky that was once illuminated, dimmed back to its dark hue. Then, a moment later, a loud noise sounded.

 _BOOM!_

Then the earth shook. Levi and Erwin stopped, leaning against a building to maintain their balance. The citizens were frightened by the commotion. Everyone ran around, shrieking in terror and holding on to their loved ones.

Soon the shaking faded away and the two soldiers continued their marathon to the Wall with haste. After a few minutes of running through crowds of frightened people, Erwin and Levi reached the Wall. Erwin immediately ordered for a lift to take him and Levi up to the top of the Wall. The Garrison soldiers obeyed the command and within five minutes were at the top of the Wall.

Erwin disembarked and walked over to the edge of the Wall. He looked to see that the horizon was illuminated from where the fireball had crashed.

Every soldier on the Wall was fixated on the horizon. Fear was evident in their eyes. Such a thing had not happened before in their life. Such a thing had never happened in the last hundred years the Wall stood and certainly not before that either. The questions that all these people held had no one to answer them.

Levi looked at the horizon along with Erwin. Then he turned and looked up at his Commander. "What the hell was _that_?" Levi asked.

But Erwin shook his head in reply. "I don't know…"

[-]

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE** **:**

 **Yeah…**

 **So I am back.**

 **I would like to take this moment to express my sincerest apologies as to me taking down the story and the prolonged rewrite of the first chapter. I had made a lot of promises a year ago, most of which I did not keep. But hopefully that will all change.**

 **Right now, I have been busy in developing my portfolio for Art Colleges, so I don't necessarily have a lot of time to write. I only ask that you all remain patient for a little while longer.**

 **I'll explain more in the follow-up chapters as to what had happened and what will happen. But for now, enjoy the return of a longer and better first chapter of my story.**

 **See Ya!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't own HALO or Attack On Titan.**

 **[-]**

 **TITANOMACHY:**

 **CHAPTER 2:**

 **MONSTERS AND MEN:**

 **[-]**

The southern plains of the Wall Maria Territory were once a beautiful place. They had an untamed charm to them that no other place could compare to. The large expanses of grass and flowers, occasionally dotted with trees and large rocks, were a captivating sight to behold.

However, last night, the beauty was tarnished with the loud and destructive arrival of the _Forward Unto Dawn_. The large ship had crashed down to the southern plains, plowing the earth and scorching away everything around it. Once morning came the morning songs of birds had been silenced, only the whisper of the wind could be heard as the sun slowly peeked over the horizon.

Then the silence was interrupted as the hum of an escape pod's thrusters hailed an approach to the ground. The pod flew through the sky, descending over a kilometer away from the smoldering _Dawn_. It slowed a few meters off the ground, levitating as its landing gear extended. Afterwards, it gently landed on the ground before the engine shut down.

Inside the escape pod, the Master Chief unstrapped himself from his seat. He stood up, grunting as he stretched his aching body.

It had been hours since he and Cortana departed the _Dawn_ , which they had spent maneuvering in space, awaiting the _Dawn_ 's landing. Cortana had made sure that they avoided any stray bits of the _Dawn_ 's wreckage and calculated the ship's exact crash coordinates.

As Cortana navigated through space, the Spartan had gotten some rest. Having only exited cryogenic hibernation a few hours previously, the Master Chief was still accustoming to being awake. The hard labor of collecting supplies prior to the duo's departure had only added to the soldier's fatigue. In short, it wasn't a surprise that he dozed off in the escape pod.

Cortana materialized above the pod's controls as the Master Chief was stretching. She smiled, amused by her friend's actions. "Had a good night's rest, Sleeping Beauty?" she asked playfully.

Chief stopped stretching and looked over at his companion. "No thanks to your driving." he replied.

The Master Chief then stepped over to the controls and looked out the canopy of the pod. The area around them was still dark, but the Spartan could make out the orange glow on the horizon.

"Anything on the scanners?" Chief asked, continuing to scan the area. It was still unclear as to whether or not there was any intelligent—or at least friendly—life out there.

"Nothing in our near vicinity," Cortana replied. "But keep an eye out, something will likely come to investigate."

Chief nodded in agreement. He knew that an occurrence such as a gigantic space ship crashing down would not go unnoticed by any native residents—intelligent or otherwise. Despite all that, Master Chief had no intention of simply sitting in the escape pod the entire time. They were on a whole new world, in an unknown area with no clear idea of what was out there.

Acting on his instincts, training, and experience, the Master Chief saw it to be paramount to leave the pod—for a multitude of reasons. The first was to explore and survey the area, determining as much as possible. The second was to inspect the condition of the Dawn, knowing full well that the large ship would serve as a better base than a small pod. And finally, Chief knew that Cortana wanted to see what was out there.

He looked down at his A.I. companion on the controls. "How about we go see what's out there…"

Cortana smiled. "Let's."

In response to that, Chief pulled Cortana's chip out of the escape pod's controls. He inserted her into the back of his helmet before proceeding to the back of the pod. On his way over to the pod's hatch, he grabbed his Assault Rifle. It was always better to have a gun and not need it than to not have a gun and need it.

Chief took a deep breath, getting ready for his first step beyond the hatch. _Here we go. Let's see what's out there,_ Chief thought to himself. Then he pressed the hatch release. There was a hiss, signaling depressurization and then the hatch lifted.

Once the hatch was fully up, the Master Chief walked out of the pod. He stopped, allowing himself and Cortana to take in what they were seeing before them.

" _Incredible_ …" Cortana gasped, breath-taken by what she was seeing.

In front of the duo, was a beautiful meadow covered in grass and speckled with flowers on the fields. A forest stood solemnly next to the meadow, tall pines guarding its borders. As Chief observed, he found that the pattern of forests and fields seemed to stretch on endlessly.

The view would've been perfect for a postcard, had it not been for the smoldering mass that was known as the _Forward Unto Dawn_ 's rear half. The ship had wasn't exactly anything to look at before, but no thanks to the crash it looked even worse.

"Looks like she took a beating." Cortana commented, stating the obvious.

"It's been through worse." Chief reminded the A.I.

Cortana chuckled. "Yeah, you're right." Then, for a moment, Chief's HUD flickered.

"What was that?" Chief asked.

"Nothing." Cortana replied quickly. "Just some interference. It'll pass."

Chief raised an eyebrow at the A.I.'s response. For a moment, Chief had thought that something was wrong. But he put it aside. There had been instances in the past where the area gave off some interference. Surely this was one of those times.

"Come on," Cortana urged. "The sooner we evaluate the _Dawn_ , the sooner we can determine our next move."

Chief nodded, reminded of the matter at hand. The Spartan then hopped out of the escape pod, landing on the grass-covered ground. He turned and proceeded to walk in the direction of the _Dawn_.

As the super-soldier walked to the wreckage, the sun was slowly climbing farther up the sky. In a matter of moments the plains were illuminated by the golden-yellow glow of the sun. Cortana was enthralled by the beauty that was happening in front of them. Chief, on the other hand, maintained an indifference to his surroundings. He tended to have little interest in such things, not allowing them to distract him from his objectives.

"It's beautiful…" Cortana gasped.

"It's nice." Chief said dryly.

Cortana heard her companion's underlying tone and simply sighed. "You know, you should try to take in the sights more often. Make you a little less stiff."

"I've taken in quite the amount of sights." Chief retorted. _A gigantic, planet sized ring, being one of them._ He added in silence. "As for being _'stiff'_ , I'd rather be disciplined than wild like-." Chief stopped himself, finding the conversation suddenly turned sour.

Cortana said nothing. She instantly began to regret bringing up the matter entirely. The A.I. knew full well of the strength of the bond that the Spartan had, and its effect on him when it was lost. Hoping to exit the solemn waters, Cortana decided to change the subject.

"Hey…" she paused. "A crazy thought just occurred. Since the scans showed that the flora and the fauna are like those from Earth, do you think that we'll find any human-like life out here?"

Chief shook his head. "I doubt it." He replied distractedly.

 _Boom._

A deafening sound rocked the earth around them.

Chief stopped in his tracks. The Spartan looked around the meadow, searching for the source of the noise.

"Chief? What is it?" Cortana asked.

 _Boom._

The ground seemed to shake with every boom.

"Something's out there." The Spartan replied as he honed in on the direction where the noise was coming from. The noise had emanated from the forest. The trees seemed to be unnaturally shaking. Birds were flying out of the forest in fear.

Chief raised his Assault Rifle, pointing it at the forest. "It's coming toward us." Chief whispered hoarsely. "And it's big."

 _Boom._

" _Very_ big."

Within moments the trees parted and out of the forest emerged a gigantic, naked human. To say that the human was tall was an understatement, for it was about twelve meters tall. Not to mention that it was missing some "parts" in the lower region.

" _What on earth…?_ " Cortana gasped. Chief said nothing, keeping his rifle on the creature. _Looks like evolution took a strange turn on this planet._

Realizing that the creature was more animal than man, Chief slung his rifle on his back and began to slowly move away. The creature certainly did not give off a friendly impression, nor did Chief have any desire to find out if it was. Thinking quickly, he realized his only chance in the situation was to get back to the _Dawn_ as quickly as possible. Given the creature's size, it was doubtful that it would be able to enter the ship.

Chief took one step back. Then another. And another.

The creature must have found something appealing about the Spartan, for it took a step forward and proceeded to rumble its way towards him.

"Chief, run!" Cortana yelled.

Master Chief turned on his heel and shot off in the direction of the _Dawn_.

The creature, realizing that its prey was getting away, charged after the Spartan. It ran with its spiny legs forward as its arms flailed uncontrollably through the air. At first, the creature ran at a meager pace. Then it evolved into an all-out run, as it kicked up dirt, dust and grass into the air.

Had it been a normal person that was being chased the monster would've caught up within moments. But the Master Chief surprised the creature, showing off his Spartan augmented speed as he placed a great distance between himself and the creature.

"Come on, Chief!" Cortana shouted encouragingly. "Kick it to the full fifty-five!"

The Spartan ran as fast as he could, traversing the terrain at an unbelievable speed. He glanced back at the creature, to find that it was slowly catching up.

"He's fast for a big guy!" Cortana commented.

Fast was an understatement. Chief was surprised the creature hadn't tripped with its abnormal body. The fact that it was moving at such a speed was beyond belief. But none of that mattered. The Chief had managed to shorten the distance between themselves and the _Dawn_. It was only a few meters away.

All of a sudden, Chief's HUD flashed, blinding the Spartan momentarily. He almost tripped against his own feet and fell, but had managed to catch himself in the last moment.

"Cortana! How's my six?!" Chief asked, his vision slowly recovering. But Cortana didn't answer. "Cortana?!"

The ground suddenly started coming towards Chief as a large force grabbed him by the legs. He looked over his shoulder to find the creature holding him. The Spartan's instincts kicked in and he pulled his Assault Rifle from off his back. He aimed the rifle at the creature's face and opened fire.

 _Bang-Bang-Bang-Bang!_

The creature snarled as the bullets pierced its face, but refused to release Chief. Instead, it lifted the super-soldier up. The sudden movement, combined with shear force, caused Chief to drop his rifle.

But the Spartan wasn't about to surrender. He pulled out his knife and proceeded to hack away at the creature's hand, specifically its fingers, in an attempt to get free. But the knife was too small for cutting such large digits. The most that Chief managed to do was draw some blood.

He looked up to see the creature's mouth open, revealing a row of crooked teeth. Realizing that the knife was a fruitless endeavor, the Spartan resorted to his final, desperate option. Master Chief reached, grabbing one of the grenades on his hip. He primed the grenade and threw it into the creature's mouth. The grenade flew into the creature's mouth, then to its throat. It wasn't a second later when the creature's head exploded.

 _Ka-Boom!_

Chief raised his arms as blood splattered across his green armor. The headless creature's body went limp and crumbled to the ground.

 _Whoom!_

As the creature's hand hit the ground, the Spartan rolled out of it and onto the grass. The Spartan laid there, motionless.

"Chief?!" Cortana's voice called out over the Spartan's headset. "Chief, are you alright?!"

At first there was no response. Then the Spartan groaned. "Yeah…" Chief shook his head as he began to rise. "Hadn't been that close to a grenade blast in a while. Almost passed out."

Cortana sighed in relief, glad that her friend was alright. "Maybe you're already a little more wild than you think…" She chuckled.

 _Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss…_

A loud hissing noise sounded, making the Chief turn his attention toward it. The sound came from the creature's corpse, which was disintegrating in a shroud of steam before Chief's very eyes. The blood on his armor began to evaporate as well, hissing as it disappeared.

"Well that's interesting…" Cortana remarked in a curious tone.

Chief silently agreed with the A.I. The creature presented quite the mystery, but there was another matter that held Master Chief's attention as well. Cortana's little " _accident_ " had almost gotten Chief killed. She had mentioned earlier that she was experiencing some interference, but Chief had never seen it to be so bad before.

Unfortunately, Chief didn't get a chance to expand on the subject matter as his thoughts were interrupted by loud footsteps once more. He looked around to see more creatures converging on their brethren's corpse.

"I don't think that we have the adequate firepower to fight them at the moment." Cortana advised. "Retreat to the _Dawn_?"

"Retreat to the _Dawn_." Chief agreed. With that said, he ran past the steaming corpse, stopping only to retrieve his rifle before sprinting to a small hole in the _Dawn_.

He entered the _Dawn_ and kept running, activating his suit's floodlights to navigate the dark corridors of the damaged ship. After retreating some depth into the _Dawn_ , Master Chief stopped, taking a quick breather.

"Chief, are you alright?" Cortana asked.

Chief nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." The Spartan had encountered life and death situations often in the past; so much to the point that he had grown a strong resilience towards them.

"We always seem to give off the wrong impression when we meet new people, don't we?" Cortana joked, thinking about their many first encounters with enemies.

However, this time, it had been different.

Never before had Chief encountered such an adversary. In the past, Chief had fought with intelligent enemies such as terrorists and the many species of the Covenant. Even when he faced the Flood, the parasitic force retained a degree of hive-like intelligence. But the strange, human-like creature—that he encountered moments ago—attacked him in a beast-like manner.

 _It tried to eat me._ Chief realized. That was another thing that the Spartan had never experienced before. He had never understood what it meant to be the prey of a creature that was bigger and stronger. His enemies had tried to kill him in the past for the sake of killing him, but never to eat him. It was a strange feeling, to know that there was a "bigger fish" out there.

After the shock began to settle down, Master Chief was plagued with questions: _What was that thing? Where did it come from? Why did it look like a human? Why did it try to eat me? Are there more? If there is, how many?_

There were so many questions, Chief didn't know where to begin. Then it hit him. He was in the _Dawn_. The ship was equipped with drones and all other manner of detection systems. If he got up to the Command Center, he could survey the area and beyond to find answers.

"Cortana, are the _Dawn_ 's detection systems and drones operational?"

"Everything was fine for the most part before the crash. But now I'm not certain." Cortana informed the Chief. "I'd have to patch into the main hub in the Command Center to know for sure."

"Then let's get a move on." Chief stated. He turned and jogged his way down the hall with a purpose.

After almost twenty minutes of navigating the darkened and damaged corridors of the _Forward Unto Dawn_ , Master Chief had finally arrived in front of the doors to the Command Center. This time, the doors didn't hiss and open automatically. The crash had deactivated all power within the ship, meaning the heavy metal doors could only be opened one way.

"Looks like you're gonna have to open the doors manually." Cortana said.

Chief placed his rifle on his back and approached the door. He slid his fingers into the seam of the heavy metal doors. Then he began to wedge the doors apart. There was a loud creaking noise as the doors slid out of the way. The Spartan didn't stop until the gap was wide enough for him to pass through. Once the opening was the adequate size, Chief let go and stepped through into the Command Center.

To say that the Command Center had changed after the _Dawn_ 's rough landing would be a kind way of putting it. The once impressive room that Chief and Cortana stood in only hours earlier had become somewhat of a dump. Panels had fallen out of their respective spots, allowing wires and various components to spill out onto the floor.

Master Chief walked over to the main hub, which despite the crash, held up rather nicely. He pulled Cortana's A.I. chip from the back of his helmet and inserted it into the hub. Cortana appeared shortly on top of the hub, bringing up various screens.

"It looks like we're in luck." Cortana announced after perusing the screens for a couple of moments. "We have a couple of drones that are intact and most of our detection systems are operational." The A.I. looked at her friend. "I think I'll send some drones out, see what's out there."

"Do it." Chief nodded, agreeing with the idea. Then he added another idea silently. _Let's see what other monsters might be out there…_

[-]

"You're out of your damn mind." Levi growled.

Levi was looking at Erwin with a look that would—if it were possible—kill.

After the events of last night, Erwin, rather than returning with Levi to the barracks, went back to his office at the Survey Corps headquarters. There, Erwin spent the remainder of the night making calculations. As the Commander was running math, Levi had returned to the barracks and didn't even get a chance to get a handful of sleep before being summoned by Erwin.

Upon his arrival at headquarters, Levi met with Erwin in the office and had learned of his superior's "new plan". The two men now stood, facing one another in confrontation.

"I believe that what I am saying is perfectly sound." Erwin replied calmly.

"You want us to completely divert from our original route toward the spot where the fireball crashed." Levi told the Commander, keeping his tone in check as much as possible. "You're telling me you're not insane?"

"I wouldn't be taking us completely off the original route." Erwin explained. "The fireball had crashed in the southern region of the Maria Territory; a region that we were already entering. If anything, the fireball's landing zone couldn't have been more convenient. We'd still be performing the regular expedition, only with an additional diversion."

Levi shook his head, not believing what he was hearing. "What do you even expect to find there?"

"I don't know." Erwin answered. "But that's our purpose, isn't it? To expand our territory _and_ our knowledge. Surely we couldn't be a Survey Corps if we didn't survey, now wouldn't we?" Erwin joked mischievously.

When Levi didn't answer, Erwin took it as a sign of victory.

Levi turned around, heading for the office door. "I'll go inform everyone. But bear in mind, Hanji will become impossible to deal with." He could literally see the Squad Leader having a fit of joy once she heard the news.

"I'm sure we can handle it." Erwin replied with a smile.

[-]

In the meantime, over in the barracks of the Training Corps graduates, there was a bustle of gossip. It was futile to think that anything but the fireball that passed over Trost would be discussed. Everyone had his or her angle on the event that had transpired, and were attempting to claim the spotlight.

Three cadets in particular had been surrounded by their friends and fellow comrades.

"It was huge!" Eren exclaimed. "It was probably even bigger than the Colossal Titan itself!"

"Pfft! Get real, Jaeger." Jean sneered. "How would you know how big it was? It was kilometers away in the sky. Just because it looks big, doesn't automatically make it bigger than the Colossal Titan."

"Well at least I saw it and wasn't busy bragging about going into the Military Police, Horse-Face!"

"What'd you call me?!" Jean demanded as he got up from his seat.

"Hey, hey, guys—relax." Reiner spoke up. "We're just trying to listen to the story. No need to get all worked up about it. First let's finish listening, then the two of you can go beat each other up, okay?"

A couple of cadets laughed at Eren and Jean's expense. Their rivalry had been going strong for nearly three years and was as hilarious to watch as ever.

The two mumbled irritably before sitting back down in their respective seats.

"So Eren, what happened after that?" Krista asked, steering Eren's attention back to the topic at hand.

"Anyway, after that, the fire ball flew past the city. Like I said before, it had to have been bigger than the Colossal Titan, because we suddenly felt the earth shake as it crashed in the Wall Maria territory." Eren could still recall the force he felt beneath his feet when the comet crashed.

"Do you think the Survey Corps will go investigate it when they go out for their expedition?"

"Probably," Eren replied. "I'm just mad that we didn't graduate sooner. Otherwise, I would've headed out with the Survey Corps to see what it was."

"Yeah, it's a real shame. Then I wouldn't have to look at your ugly face a day longer." Jean muttered.

"What'd you say?!" Eren yelled as he stood up from his seat.

"You heard me, shit for brains!" Jean yelled back as he got up.

The two boys proceeded to fight as the cadets in the mess hall jeered and cheered them on.

Mikasa sighed as she watched Eren and Jean punch one another. "Idiots." she muttered.

Armin looked over at his friend with a worried expression. "Aren't you going to stop them?" he asked her.

"In a moment." Then Mikasa shook her head. _When will they ever learn?_

[-]

"Chief!" Cortana called out to her friend.

The Spartan in question was in the middle of repairing one of the control consoles when his A.I. friend called for him. He pulled himself out of the console and stood up.

"What is it?" he asked as he walked over to Cortana.

"We got live feed from the drones." she answered. "Coming up on the big screen now."

In a moment, screens appeared over the control console. In a matter of seconds they began to display the feed from the drones.

Chief watched the screens as images of towns, roads and cities popped into view. Scattered across the feeds were more of the humanoid monsters that they had encountered earlier. They all ranged from different sizes, but most of the traits remained the same. Naked, disproportionate bodies, strange movement and uncanny resemblance to humans. However, they all appeared docile, not acting out or seeking any prey, unlike the one from earlier.

"It's so weird…" Cortana mused. "The architecture resembles European structures from the Renaissance period of Earth, but the native inhabitants are too big to fit in them. Not to mention that they seem to be inert in terms of intelligence."

"Perhaps there once were some residents living in those towns, but were driven out by those creatures." Master Chief hypothesized. "Try expanding the recon radius. There might be some settlements nearby."

"On it."

As the drones continued to fly around, Chief watched with ever-growing curiosity. It was so strange that the world he had crashed on had such similarities to Earth, and in more ways than one. But just from what he had seen already, there was no way that it was just coincidence. A few possibilities came to mind, and most of them had "Forerunner" written all over them.

Chief had learned enough to know that the ancient alien species held humans up to a certain regard. Whether it was a good or bad one, he did not know. It was perhaps a good one, seeing how the Forerunners themselves deemed humans worthy to trust with the remains of their technology. Especially in regard to the HALO rings.

As the Spartan mused over the possibilities of the situation, he saw something pop up on one of the screens that caught his attention. "Cortana, enlarge screen 04."

The A.I. did so, enlarging the feed over the others.

The feed was coming from a drone that was sent south of the _Dawn_. In the feed, Chief saw something that garnered his attention. It was a wall, but not just any wall. It was a wall made from stone and stood tall, taller than any structure should've stood in the time period and the region that the comparisons were being made to.

"That's one big wall." Cortana noted. "And judging from the curvature, we're within the wall's limits."

Then the drone feed showed a new image. It was a city, built within a large semi-circle that jutted out from the main wall. As the drone zoomed, Chief noticed two extremely large holes. One where he assumed a gate to the outer territory once stood and another where the city connected to the wall. It seemed that the monsters had forced themselves in.

"It looks like we're starting to get a clear idea of what happened." Cortana observed. "But what's pulling at my mind is where the former residents are now…"

"I'm interested by something else entirely…" Chief drifted off.

Cortana frowned. "And that would be…?"

"What made those holes, and how." he proclaimed ominously.

Cortana gave off a look of shock, but regained her composure. Chief was right. The biggest threat wasn't the monsters that were walking all around them. It was what got the monsters in in the first place. But what force could possibly be responsible?

The A.I. was unable to finish the thought when new surveillance popped up. And this one was an alarm ringer. "Chief, I'm getting feed from a drone over a large city. Looks inhabited."

"Where?" Chief asked, taking a closer look at the feed.

"In the north." She answered. "Looks like we didn't give the locals enough credit. There seems to be another wall. A back-up, if you will."

When the camera zoomed in on the city, familiarly-shaped specks appeared.

"Humans." Cortana gasped. "It's—no. _It is_ completely possible. After what we've just seen, it would be strange if we didn't find humans. But— _what the hell is going on around here?_ "

Chief said nothing. Instead, he stared at the screen, watching the people move about the city. It was a minute before the Spartan spoke. "We have a hundred questions, but no answers to any of them. If we want to know what's going on, we'll ask them ourselves."

Cortana nodded in agreement. Her friend was right.

Chief continued to gaze at the screen. "Tomorrow, we're going to the city."

[-]

 _ **Author's Note**_ **:**

 **Alright, I hope everyone was satisfied with the latest chapter. Now a lot of you are actually curious as to what went on between July and now. Well I hope you're comfortable, because it's a long story.**

 **The earliest that I can formally state that this shit-storm started was back in February. Now I go to a technical high school whose main focus is the manufacturing and repair of aircraft. However, the curriculum is so strict (because the school is licensed under the FAA), that any missed work must be made up within ten days. If it isn't, you fail the class. Anyway, I got sick back in February, and I was out for two days. I didn't make up the work and I failed the class. Due to this, I was sent on this downward spiral, failing my next class and a whole bunch of tests.**

 **At the same time, I was in a war with my parents over what colleges I wanted to go to and making up all the tests and classes I failed. I was lost, and I never felt more alone before in my life.**

 **Then in my final shop class, I had a teacher named Mr. P. The man was the most real and badass motherfucker that I ever met. On the first day, he told us "Everyday we'll form a line within ten minutes and review a worksheet as our lesson. Do this and we should be fine." The next day, it took me and my class a half-hour to form a line. Mr. P told us that due to our not following his instructions, we would not work for one whole week. And. He. Kept. His. Word.**

 **Following the incident, we all straightened out fast. Once we started following his instructions, Mr. P began to share his wisdom with us. He told us that everyone had his own system and interests; that each person went about life in a different way from another. Some followed his dreams, while others abandoned them. The man knew that there were people who had no interest in becoming Aircraft mechanics. But he told us that despite that, we all had a responsibility to give out our highest quality work, whether we liked our job or not.**

 **One day, we were having a lesson and Mr. P asked a question at the end. Nobody raised their hand. I was completely shocked and angered. We just learned about it not even five minutes ago. I understood that we would all get in trouble if we didn't answer, so I raised my hand and answered the question. Mr. P would ask about five or six questions after that, with me answering most of them. I got a couple wrong, but he took care to correct my errors. Once the lesson was over and work began, Mr. P called me over to talk to him. He asked me if I was going to become an Aircraft Mechanic. I told him no.**

" **Such a shame. Someone like you has the character to do anything. You were the only one brave enough to try."**

 **I was called brave. I had never been called brave before. Or told that I had the character for anything.**

 **I got a 95 in that class. I deleted my story to eliminate distractions. I signed up for Summer-School and sweated half of my summer in a classroom. I made up the tests. Then I asked myself what I wanted to achieve in my life.**

" **I'm going to become an American mangaka and have my manga published in Shonen Jump."**

 **At the same time, I saw a whole bunch of PM's from various fanfic authors and readers where I had gone. I then decided to post my story back online. But after a review of a few of my chapters, I decided to rewrite my story altogether under a new name.**

 **I got so caught up afterwards in my college application and portfolio as well as maintaining grades in classes that I didn't have time to work on my story. Hopefully I'll be able to update now.**

 **Thank you to all those that worried about me and waited so patiently for my story to return. I dedicate this story to everyone who has and will be there to read it.**

 **P.S. If you guys want, I could make a deviant art page for you to see my work.**

" _ **Do or do not, there is no try." -Yoda**_


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't own HALO or Attack On Titan.**

 **[-]**

 **TITANOMACHY:**

 **CHAPTER 3:**

 **FORWARD:**

 **[-]**

Following the Master Chief's declaration of expedition, he left for the Hangar. The earlier encounter with the monster showed that, despite appearances, they were fast. It would be a foolish action to not prepare a proper form of transportation before leaving the Dawn.

With that being said, there wasn't exactly much discussion as to what vehicle the Master Chief would use. All of the aircraft—with the exception of drones—were damaged and disabled, leaving only land vehicles. A Scorpion Tank may have had the firepower to fight the monsters, but it lacked the speed to outrun them. And a Mongoose didn't exactly pan out in either area.

The only option left was to use a Warthog.

Warthogs were fast, agile, and —depending on the configuration—powerful. Should the Master Chief run into any sort of trouble on his way to the city, the Warthog would more than likely be able to handle it. As to what configuration, Chief decided to use a Warthog with a Gauss cannon. He would have less space for supplies than a troop carrier, but the cannon would land more damage against the monsters than a chain-gun would.

After that, came the weaponry and gear. The Master Chief had two things to worry about: the monsters and any 'unfriendly' people in the city. That meant a balance between anti-personnel and explosives had to be maintained within the loadout. Not to mention something that provided a quick getaway should fighting no longer be an option.

For starters, Chief would carry his Magnum Pistol and knife along with a couple of frag and plasma grenades at all times. After careful consideration, Chief decided to bring along a pair of Sticky Detonators and a Rocket Launcher to use against the monsters. In terms of anti-personnel, a Shotgun and a Battle Rifle would be most suited. One for close-quarters and the other for long-range. Other pieces of equipment that Chief would bring along were a jetpack, a cloaking unit, a few kilograms of C-12, and shield grenades.

It took about an hour for Chief to fuel the Warthog, prep the Gauss Cannon, and to load all the weaponry and supplies. Once all the preparations were finished, Master Chief started to return to the Command Center.

On his way to the exit, the Spartan spotted a large, purple object. It was peeking out behind a pile of stacked crates. Chief recognized it to be a Covenant weapon crate. Curious as to what was inside, Chief walked over to the crate. Prying the lid off, Chief found dozens of familiar, barbell-shaped objects.

Energy Swords.

Chief recalled how he lacked a proper weapon back when the monster manhandled him. Not wishing to go through the same situation again, he reached into the crate and took out two of the energy swords. Clipping the swords to the waist of his armor, the Spartan turned and went out the Hangar exit.

[-]

Captain Levi walked along the assembled ranks of the Survey Corps. His eyes carefully scanned the 3DMGs of every soldier, searching for any discrepancies. As far as he had inspecting, there were none to be found. It didn't exactly come as a surprise. Out of all the branches of the Military, the Survey Corps were perhaps the only one to even use their 3DMGs on a regular basis. The Garrison mostly stayed on the Walls and manned the cannons. The Military Police on the other hand were more accustomed to using rifles and sabers. The other two branches used their 3DMGs sparingly, mostly to navigate towns better.

But the Survey Corps actually used their gear to fight Titans. The difference between a well-maintained, up to standard 3DMG and an unkempt one was what determined life and death. So naturally not only were gears in the Corps better taken care of, but were better understood by their users. Unfortunately, this information was overshadowed by the ghastly odds of survival in the Corps.

Sadly to say, many of the soldiers that Captain Levi was inspecting would not return from the expedition that awaited them. Even well-kept gear had its limits to what it could do for a soldier.

Death was to be expected.

The short captain eventually reached the end of his inspection and faced the present members of the Corps. Then in a loud and clear voice, he spoke.

"Everybody's gear looks good!" he complimented. "Keep it up! Now that inspection is complete, everyone is to go about their job and finish final preparations! Afterwards, get a good night's sleep! We're going to be needing it! Corps, dismissed!"

With the speech finished and dismissal granted, the Survey Corps soldier broke formation. Every soldier hurried off in a different direction, set to completing their assigned tasks.

Levi was about to head off himself when he was approached by a soldier. It was Mike, one of the Squad Leaders in the Survey Corps and a friend of Levi's.

"Smell something rotten, Mike?" Levi asked.

It was an inside joke in the Survey Corps. Mike had this strange quirk about him regarding his nose. He claimed that it was superior to any other human's. The man always played around with new recruits, sniffing them like a dog to find out whether he liked them or not. Despite this creepy behavior, Mike's heightened senses came in handy in the Corps' expeditions. It was common that Mike was the first to tell when a Titan was coming and from where.

Mike shook his head. "Just the usual—piss and shit from the scared newbies. But that's nothing new."

"Then what is it?"

"Just wondering how you're holding up. I know that it ain't easy, knowing that a lot of them aren't coming back."

Levi was quiet for a moment. "Like you said, 'nothing new'." he replied in a voice that was half tired and half experienced.

Mike appeared stunned for a second. Then he sighed. Levi was right. There really was nothing new.

Levi then turned and left the courtyard.

[-]

A fight was taking place in the Dining Hall. Again. Between Eren and Jean. Again.

Jean had been bragging to his fellow trainees that he would be joining the Military Police tomorrow. Eren, upon hearing Jean's braggadocio, spoke up on Jean's "cowardly behavior". At first it was a series of comebacks between the two, which then escalated into an all-out, fist-fight.

The two were facing one another, their fists clenched and arms up. As the two circled one another, the other trainees were watching and cheering the fight on. In the background, some were actually placing bets as to who would win this round.

"Come on, Eren!" Jean yelled, goading Eren on. "What's wrong?! If you're having trouble against me, a mere human, you're not fit to go up against the Titans!"

The remark enraged Eren and he sent a kick flying at Jean's ribs. Jean groaned as he reeled back and tried to punch Eren. But the latter ducked, sending a punch to Jean's gut as he did so. Jean scrunched up his face, silently cursing Eren.

Reiner, who was watching the fight, spoke up. "Hey, come on guys! That's enough! Jean, don't you remember what Eren's hand-to-hand combat score was?!" He shouted over the crowd's yelling.

But Jean wasn't listening. Instead, he angrily swiped at Eren, but the dark-haired boy was too quick for him.

"It was at the top of our class!" Reiner reminded his enraged friend.

As Reiner was speaking, Eren reared his arm along with his body back. He was just about to hit Jean when all of a sudden Mikasa stepped in between him and Jean. She grabbed Eren by his waist and with a surprising amount of strength, slung him on her shoulder.

"Or, wait…wasn't he second to Mikasa?" Reiner wondered aloud as he watched the entire encounter.

"Mikasa?!" Eren exclaimed. "P-put me down!" he yelled as he flailed like a fish. Despite his best efforts, the girl's strength freakishly outclassed his own. Then again, it always did. That was the reason why the bullies of their childhood always ran on the sight of Mikasa.

The girl then proceeded to carry her brother out of the Dining Hall.

Jean stood straight, a bruise evident on his cheek. He was still sore from the scuffle, and was about to follow after Eren. However, he found his path blocked by a fellow trainee, Franz.

"Jean, if you guys keep making a racket, the instructor will come by!" Franz told his friend, smiling a wide smile. Despite a fight between Eren and Jean being amusing, any fight would only spoil the evening.

"This is the highlight of the party!" Jean yelled angrily. "Don't stop me!"

Franz chuckled light-heartedly. "Um…no. I think everybody's had enough."

Jean stole a glance around Franz toward Eren and Mikasa. The girl just happened to be passing by a large group of trainees who were laughing and pointing at Eren as he desperately squirmed. Watching Eren being embarrassed was somewhat satisfying, but Jean would have the last word.

"You're lucky, Eren! Having Mikasa to carry you around like that!" He sneered. "I bet you're planning to drag her to the Survey Corps with you!"

Eren said nothing. Mikasa carried her brother out the exit. Once they were outside, she threw Eren to the ground. Unfortunately Eren landed on his behind.

Eren looked up at Mikasa. "That hurt, dammit!" he scolded her angrily.

But Mikasa didn't seem to care. "You're always impulsive when you're angry." She told him, adjusting her scarf.

Eren was about to say something back, but stopped. He turned away from Mikasa and sat up on the ground, massaging his sore spot as he did so. "About what Jean said… are you really going to go into the Survey Corps with me?"

Mikasa sat down next to her brother. She crossed her arms. "Yeah. I am." She uttered silently, giving her answer.

All Eren could do was look at Mikasa with disbelief. "You were ranked the number one trainee! Join the MPs! You're sure to get special treatment…"

As much as Eren hated it, Mikasa was a superior soldier than him. In the three years that they spent in the Training Corps, Mikasa had ranked at the top of every drill, exercise, and exam. All of their instructors claimed that she was the best soldier to come out since Captain Levi himself! Because of her ranking, it would make sense that she would go to the MPs given the chance. Eren wanted her to go to the MPs as well, as her brother wishing her to be well off.

No… Then again that was a lie. That wasn't his true intention…

His true intention was to get her away from him as far as possible. Ever since Mikasa came to live with Eren, she had been doting over him as though he were some helpless baby. Whenever he got in trouble, she was always there to help him out. It infuriated him to no end, how she was stronger and better than him in practically everything. And now he would have to endure it in the Survey Corps as well.

To prove his point, Mikasa began to speak again. "If you join the MPs, I'll join them too. If you go into the Garrison, so will I. If I'm not around, you'll probably not survive."

This peeved Eren. "I'm not asking you to follow me. Just how long are you going to keep this up?"

"As long as we live." She replied. "I died once and was brought back to life. I'll never forget my debt. But more than anything, I don't want to lose more family…"

Eren looked away. He said nothing. She was probably right, but his pride stopped him from admitting it. Nothing he'd say at that moment would change her mind.

It didn't matter anyway. Eren knew that he wasn't number one like Mikasa but that wouldn't stop him in the Survey Corps. He was certain that he would overshadow his sister. Completely certain.

At that moment, Armin walked outside. He saw his friends sitting on the porch of the building and went up to them. "Hey, the party's breaking up. Let's go back to the dorm."

"Hey, Armin… did you decide which branch you'll go into?" Eren asked his friend.

Armin appeared taken off-guard. He didn't say anything at all. Instead he walked over and sat next to Eren on the porch. Armin stared at his lap for a few seconds. Then he answered in a quiet voice. "I'm going to join the Survey Corps."

Eren's eyes almost popped out of his head. "What?!" he exclaimed. "But Armin, you're…" Eren didn't know what to say. Armin was his friend and all, but he just wasn't suited for battle.

"I know." Armin said, continuing to stare at his lap. He had already known what Eren was going to say before he said it. "I'm weaker than the average person and I barely passed the single combat exam…"

"But you're so smart!" Eren protested. Out of all the trainees in the 104th Training Corps, there was no one smarter than Armin. Armin would've probably been in the top ten of the graduates, but the Military's standards preferred physical ability over intelligence. "You could become a top engineer in the Garrison. Why would you choose the exact opposite of what you're capable of?"

"I asked myself that same question. In truth, I was just about ready to go in to the Garrison."

"So why didn't you?"

"It was because of two reasons. Your speech just now, and the comet from last night."

"The comet?"

Armin nodded. "Yesterday, as I was watching the comet fly above us, it reminded me of that book that I showed you a long time ago." Armin closed his eyes as he recalled the things that his book spoke of. Large bodies of water called "oceans". Pools of liquid fire. And vast expanses of land filled with nothing but sand.

"That comet was something that not even I could've imagined seeing last night. But now I want to see it up close. Not only that, but everything that's beyond that as well. My life would be a small price to pay to see it." Armin looked at Eren and smiled. "It would all be worth it just to see the ocean once."

Eren stared at his friend with his mouth agape. Then he looked back at Mikasa. He looked back and forth the two of them a couple of times, before letting out a long, exasperated breath.

"What am I going to do with the two of you?" he asked no one in particular.

[-]

Once again, the sun rose above the horizon, beginning a new day. As it rose, the Master Chief watched from the Command Center. He had only awoken moments earlier, just as the sun came up. He stood at the front of the Command Center, just looking at it.

Back at the main controls, Cortana appeared above the controls. She looked down at her companion and was about to call out to him. But she stopped herself. Most of the time they had spent together was in the thick of combat, so it was rare to see the Chief look so calm and peaceful.

Cortana smiled behind her friend's back. But it was a sad smile. She didn't have much time left. So she had to make the most of what she had. And as long as she knew he was alright, it was enough for her.

Eventually, Cortana found the strength to speak. "Staring at the sunrise? Isn't that a bit cliché?" she called out in her usual playful manner.

Chief turned around and looked up at her. "Maybe it is. But a friend of mine once said that ' _clichés exist for a reason_ '."

Cortana raised an eyebrow at this. "Are you sure that you're not suffering from some after-effects of cryo-sleep?" she asked. Cortana knew that Chief wasn't sick as she was sure to check his vitals periodically after he awoke. But that Chief would quote _him_ of all people…

"I'm fine." Chief replied, slightly annoyed. Now he was starting to sound like his regular, old self. "So…are you ready?" he asked.

"Ready when you are."

With that being said, Chief walked up to the main controls. Cortana disappeared from the controls as Chief approached. He pulled her chip out of the controls and plugged it back into his helmet. Then he turned and walked out of the Command center.

The Spartan and the A.I. made their way through the corridors of the Dawn. After a few minutes they arrived at the Hangar, where their Warthog awaited them.

Chief approached the Warthog and hopped into the driver's seat. He ensured that all the mirrors were positioned to his specifications, the brakes were good, and turned the ignition on.

 _Vrooooooooommmm!_

The Warthog's engine roared to life. Its idle echoing in the Hangar. The Warthog's instruments lit up.

"Alright, now that our rides ready, I'll just open the doors." Cortana said.

As Chief was waiting for the doors to open, he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. The Spartan recalled the last time he had actually driven a Warthog. It was over four years ago, back on the Ark. Cortana, Arbiter, and himself were driving to get off the HALO ring before it detonated.

 _Arbiter…_

Chief wondered whether or not his unlikely friend and comrade managed to survive. Chief shook his head. _No distractions. Too much is at stake right now._ Chief thought to himself.

There was a loud boom once the doors fully opened. Chief and Cortana were then greeted by the familiar sight of the plains. Sunlight came in, brightening up the dark hangar.

"Ready, Cortana?" Chief asked, revving the Warthog.

Cortana appeared on his HUD and nodded. "Ready."

Chief switched to Drive and stepped on the pedal. The Warthog's tires screeched as it sped along the metal floor. It raced to the open doors and flew out of the _Forward Unto Dawn_. It was airborne for a few seconds before it slammed into the ground.

The rough landing didn't slow Chief down and he kept going. He turned the Warthog to the north and took off, going as fast as the Warthog could go.

Seconds later, the hangar doors began to close loudly. Once the doors clunked shut and the _Dawn_ rested lazily on the fields as though nothing happened.

[-]

Soldiers ran back and forth in the courtyard. Last minute preparations had to be completed and there was little time to do it. The wagons had to be loaded. Gas canisters had to be fully charged and secured. Blades had to be stocked. It was hectic.

While everyone was getting ready, Erwin stood off to the side of the courtyard, observing the work. The Commander normally performed a visual inspection before every expedition. But Erwin was not inspecting the supplies. Instead, he was inspecting his soldiers.

Many of the soldiers were busy with the work, but Erwin saw telltale signs of their nerves. Some had dark circles under their eyes. A few soldiers fumbled with the supplies. He noticed one soldier had gone to hide before throwing up.

It was all the same every time he looked. Fear in the hearts of the men and women before him. And then…Death. Some were eaten and others bore witness to it.

"You're creepy when you do that, you know…" a familiar voice told him.

Erwin didn't turn his head. He closed his eyes and sighed. "And I suppose it's worse than Hanji?" he asked his second in command.

Levi let a small smirk slip. "Touché." Then he looked over to where the squad leader in question was.

Squad Leader Hanji Zoe, leader of the research squadron in the Survey Corps, was not crazy. She was the most insane woman to exist inside the three Walls. The Squad Leader had miniscule boundaries, a deranged personality, and a twisted sense of humor. Anyone who knew the woman claimed that dealing with her was a test of every amount of patience.

However, this very same woman was as equally valued in the Survey Corps as Erwin and Levi. Despite her negative attributes, Hanji had a brilliant mind with a skill in combat to match. She was also one of Erwin's closest advisors as well as the Corps' top expert on Titans.

When the Squad Leader had heard that the Corps would be heading towards the crash site of the fireball, she was ecstatic.

"Oh my goodness! We are going to have so much fun!" she yelled, leaping into the air. A huge childish, grin was plastered across her face as she goofed off.

"I warned you that she would be unbearable." Levi chastised Erwin.

But Erwin didn't seem to register Levi's words. His attention had returned to the Survey Corps.

Levi leaned against a nearby column. "Why do you torment yourself with their fear?" he asked abruptly.

Upon hearing the question, Erwin closed his eyes. "I honestly don't know." His answer confused Levi. "Sometimes I think that it's my punishment for their deaths. Other times, I think it's because I need to be reminded of who I will be sacrificing." Erwin elaborated. "But…I have this foolish notion that one day, I'll look at those under my command and…I will see courage. I'll see that they aren't afraid anymore and that their confidence in victory will overshadow their fear." Then Erwin shook his head. "But like I said, it's a foolish notion."

Levi was quiet for a moment. "You're right, it is stupid." he said. "But it's stupid enough to actually happen someday."

Erwin chuckled. "Maybe…"

Levi then stood up and dusted himself off. "Come on. It'll soon be time to leave. Who knows, maybe you'll actually inspire someone." He stated in monotonous sarcasm.

But Erwin seemed to take the idea seriously. "Perhaps I will."

[-]

Less than an hour later, the Survey Corps was assembled before the Trost Gate. All the soldiers sat on their horses and wagons with stoic faces. In a matter of minutes they would be leaving the guaranteed safety of Wall Rose and entering the treacherous, Titan-infested Maria Territory.

As the soldiers prepared themselves for what lied ahead, a large crowd had formed. The citizens of Trost had come out to see the soldiers set off on their expedition. However, the muttering populace only served to stoke the stress within the soldiers.

Erwin, who was at the front of the formation, looked over his shoulder at his soldiers. The Commander noticed the uneasiness among his ranks. He looked forward, searching for the signal that the gate would open. When he didn't find any, Erwin turned his horse around to face the Survey Corps.

"Survey Corps!" the Commander shouted.

The soldiers seemed to be snapped out of a trance and looked at their Commander. Just what was going on?

"My fellow soldiers, I can see the fear that grips your hearts! You all sit on your saddles as scared as children!" Erwin yelled. "Many of you are so scared, that you're frozen!"

The soldiers looked down in shame. Their Commander had seen through them.

"But I have a question for you: You all know that you're scared… so why are you in your saddles, ready to ride out to imminent death?!"

The soldiers looked up. Some surprised. Others confused.

Erwin knew that he had their attention now. "You all sit on your saddles today because, in your hearts, your courage and wonder of the world outweighs your fear! You want to see what is beyond these Walls, even if it means giving away your life to do so! It is with such an attitude that Humanity has a chance of prevailing!"

"They call us fools! Dreamers! Idealists! Unreasonable! But I've seen the truth, time and time again! You are not fools! You are brave! And we are the ones who will take back Wall Maria! We are the ones who will win! Not the Titans!"

"I ask you, by everything you hold dear, to give everything you have in our crusade. Offer up your courage! Offer up your bravery! Offer up your loyalty!"—Erwin then drew one of his blades out of his holster and held it above his head—" _Offer up your hearts for Humanity!_ "

The soldiers sat there, staring at their Commander with awe. Then one of the soldiers drew his blade and raised it up. _"For Humanity!"_ he shouted.

Soon the other soldiers followed suit, drawing their blades and chanting as they stabbed the air.

" _For Hu-ma-ni-ty! For Hu-ma-ni-ty! For Hu-ma-ni-ty! For Hu-ma-ni-ty! For Hu-ma-ni-ty! For Hu-ma-ni-ty!"_

Levi, who was watching the entire thing happen, sighed. _That thick, eye-browed idiot actually went and did a speech…_

As the Survey Corps chanted their battle cry, the crowd began to clap and cheer for the soldiers. The inspiration in Commander Erwin's speech was contagious, to say the least.

In the crowd were a couple of familiar Training Corps cadets. Eren, Mikasa and Armin had decided to see off the Survey Corps before heading out to do their assigned duties. Once they were done, the cadets would report back to Headquarters and finally choose their preferred military branch.

Eren, after hearing the Commander's speech, was only more motivated than before to join the Corps. "You hear that?!" he asked rather loudly. "As long as we dedicate ourselves to the cause, we're sure to win!"

Armin and Mikasa didn't say anything. Truth be told, Commander Erwin's speech had had an inspiring effect on the two. Both were actually feeling pretty good about their decisions. Only they didn't show it openly as Eren did.

But seeing as how Armin was Eren's friend and Mikasa was Eren's sister, the two felt obligated to show at least some enthusiasm. So the two cheered along with Eren and clapped for the Survey Corps.

In the meantime, the Survey Corps' cheers were still going strong. It was incredible that Erwin actually heard his name over his soldier's cheers.

"Commander Erwin!" one of the Garrison soldiers at the top of the gate called down. When Erwin looked up, the soldier continued. "Commander! The gate will be opening in sixty seconds! Get ready!"

Erwin nodded at the soldier and turned his attention back to the Survey Corps.

"Survey Corps! This is it! Get ready!" he bellowed over the cheers.

The soldiers settled down slightly, with some of them still letting out a few cheers here and there.

Then a loud creaking noise began to come from the gate. The ground reverberated slightly as the noise rose in volume. Then the gate began to rise, opening Trost to the Wall Maria Territory once again.

Erwin turned his horse around and faced the rising gate. After a few seconds, the gate was fully open.

Erwin pointed his blade ahead. "Forward!" And the entire Survey Corps charged, riding through the gate. The horses' hooves clopped against the stone road and the hum that was the large mass of riders sounded. "We now begin the Fifty-Sixth Expedition beyond the Walls!"

In a few minutes, the entire Survey Corps had ridden out of Trost and into the Wall Maria Territory. With the Corps out of Trost, the gate began to slowly close.

The Corps, in the meantime, began to get into formation. AS the Survey Corps rode, Erwin continued to speak to his soldiers.

" _Forward! Forward, Survey Corps! Forward unto the dawn of Humanity's freedom!"_

[-]

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE :**

 **Whew! Finally updated! Sorry that it took so long! I've been really busy in school lately with finals, graduation practice and some private matters, so it took me awhile.**

 **Tonight is actually my graduation ceremony, and tomorrow we go to pick up our report cards and** _ **wham!**_ **High school's over.**

 **I will be releasing chapters frequently over the summer (Battle Of Trost comin' soon!), so that'll be fun. However, I don't know how my college schedule is like yet. So I don't know how frequent my updates will be for the rest of the year.**

 **BTW** **: I finally made my DeviantArt page. It's** RomanitcWarrior1999 **, and so far I only have a drawing of my Master Chief in One Piece Universe on there. But there should be more soon!**

 **Anyway! Take care and see you all soon!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I don't own HALO or Attack On Titan.**

 **[-]**

 **TITANOMACHY:**

 **CHAPTER 4:**

 **COLOSSAL TERROR :**

 **[-]**

For over a hundred years, the gate to the city of Trost stood as a greeting to the southern provinces of Wall Maria. Then, when Wall Maria fell, the gate transformed from an entrance to Humanity's last line of defense against the Titans.

Trost went from a center of inter-Wall commerce and travel to a fortress in the span of a few months. It was the first city to have cannons and rails installed on its walls. Nearly a thousand soldiers are stationed in and out of the city year-round. It has enough munitions and supplies to stave off a Titan invasion for over a week.

According to the Government and the Military, it was assured that the city would never fall.

Their statements would soon be contested.

[-]

Hours had passed since the Master Chief and Cortana left the _Forward Unto Dawn_. They drove through plains, encountering the monsters on multiple occasions. Each time, Master Chief managed to evade and outrun the monsters until they disappeared from sight or simply gave up. After seeing only farmland for hours, it was satisfying to finally see the Wall come into sight.

The area seemed to be sparse with the monsters, so Chief decided to pull into an abandoned town to rest. He found the tallest building in the town, which appeared to have been the town hall in the past, with a bell tower at the top. Chief parked the Warthog near the main entrance and went up to the bell tower, taking his pack and assault rifle with him.

Finding a spot in the bell tower to rest, the Spartan sat down and removed his helmet.

Chief's face was his least seen attribute, hiding behind the helmet most of the time. He appeared to be in his late thirties to early forties. His brown hair was cut in the standard military buzz-cut style and he was clean-shaven. A small, faded scar was under his right eye and another above his left brow. But the most prominent features were his pale complexion and piercing blue eyes.

Master Chief took out his canteen of water and MRE before proceeding to eat. He didn't know when the next time he would be able to eat, so it was safer to do so before they entered the city. Finishing quickly, he turned his attention on the distant gate.

Chief reached into the pack again, pulling out binoculars. He peered at the gate through the binoculars, scanning it, observing its defenses and surroundings.

"Well?" Cortana asked. "What do you see?"

"A big wall." The Spartan replied dryly. Chief could feel Cortana's annoyance at his answer.

"I meant their defenses." She specified. "What are they like?"

"Cannons." said Chief. "They're placed all around the gate on large platforms and they have a whole bunch staggered along the top of the wall."

"That doesn't sound too bad…" Cortana mused. It confirmed their suspicion that the monsters had to be dealt with large firepower.

"Not bad." Chief agreed. "But the cannons are old. Ball and powder model."

"Given that everything we've seen so far is outdated, it shouldn't come as a surprise."

As Master Chief continued observing the wall's defenses, he spotted movement at the top. He zoomed in on the area and waited for the binoculars to focus. Chief found himself looking at a group of soldiers cleaning the cannons and organizing the equipment.

"There's some soldiers on the wall." reported Chief to Cortana. Then he saw one of the soldier's faces. It was a boy. He had brown hair and green eyes. He couldn't have been much older than sixteen. Chief saw the boy talking with the other soldiers who appeared to be the same age.

"They're teenagers." Chief told the A.I.

"What?" Cortana gasped. "Are you sure?"

Chief didn't hesitate or flinch. "I'm sure."

There was no mistaking it. The people who lived behind the walls were using children as soldiers. The irony was not lost on Chief. But who was he to judge? He, above all people, knew that sometimes desperate times called for desperate measures. Logically, he had no qualms with it. But a small part of him dropped as he looked at the smiling faces on the wall.

"Chief?" Cortana spoke softly. "Are you alright?"

The little A.I. knew all about Master Chief's past and his experiences prior to their working together. So she understood how seeing the young soldiers made Chief feel. It certainly didn't make him feel at ease. That was for sure.

The Spartan sighed as he put down the binoculars. "Yeah. I'm fine."

"Are you sure? Because I can understand how seeing that can make you remember certain things. Even certain someone's'…"

Chief reached over to his helmet and pulled out Cortana's chip. She materialized as he held her in his palm. He looked down at the little A.I. and gave a small, sad smile. She knew him too well.

"You're right. It's hard not to remember after seeing those kids out there. But now is not the time to be nostalgic about my past. Right now, we need to talk to these people and find out as much as we can. Clear?"

Cortana nodded. It was obvious that Chief didn't want to talk about it. "Clear."

"Good." Chief glanced back at the gate. "We better get moving."

Their rest was officially over. It wouldn't be long before the monsters found them. Not to mention that they were about to make contact with a whole new branch of humanity. Things were going to get interesting real fast.

Chief packed all of his belongings. Once he was done, he inserted Cortana's chip back into his helmet before putting it on. The helmet hissed as it locked on to the Spartan's head. Grabbing his pack and assault rifle, he climbed out of the bell-tower.

"Going out on the roof?" Cortana asked.

"Faster than going down all those stairs again." Chief explained.

"Who'd have thought that Master Chief, ' _Savior of Mankind_ ', was a lazy bum?" Cortana quipped.

Behind the helmet, Chief narrowed his eyes. "Sometimes I wonder whether or not a certain someone had a hand in your development."

Cortana giggled. "Maybe. But it's not like it's the end of the world, right?"

The sky suddenly darkened. Golden lightning streaked down from the black sky to the earth, marking its arrival with a deafening explosion.

 _ **SHA-BOOM!**_

The ground shook. Trees fluttered. Birds flew off in terror. Master Chief stumbled, losing his balance and quickly regaining it before he could fall off the roof.

"Chief! Are you okay?" Cortana asked worriedly.

"I'm fine." The Spartan responded, standing up straight. _What was that?_ Chief thought to himself. He had seen many things in his lifetime, but never before had he witnessed anything like that. _Wait a minute…The lightning hit near the city._

Chief whirled around to see if the city was alright or not. What the Spartan saw instead took him completely by surprise.

In front of the gate, an enormous cloud of smoke billowed. As the smoke dissipated, an enormous figure emerged. Chief's eyes widened.

A gigantic monster was towering over the wall.

It was like the other creatures Chief had encountered: tall and human-like. But this one had a unique twist. It stood sixty meters tall and it had no skin. Its muscles were exposed, making the creature look like an oversized human anatomy model.

Chief zoomed in with his helmet. The monster appeared to be looking at the soldiers on the wall, the latter of whom were looking back in surprise. Before the soldiers could react, the monster released a huge burst of steam from its body. The soldiers were blown off the wall, falling into the city.

The monster reached out, grabbing the wall. It raised its foot back. Then it kicked the gate with tremendous force.

 _ **BOOM!**_

The city gate crumbled like a brittle cookie. Debris and rubble flew all around. A large, gaping hole was where the gate once stood.

"Chief…" Cortana began, still stunned by what had just happened.

But she didn't get a chance to say anything else. Chief jumped down from the roof, cracking the ground as he landed. Getting up, he ran to the Warthog and tossed his things into the back. Chief climbed into the driver's seat of the Warthog, turned it on and sped off.

As he drove, Chief hoped that he would make it to the city in time.

[-]

" _They're going to get in! They're going to get in!_ _ **They're going to get in!**_ _"_ One of the cadets screamed in terror.

Eren hung above where the gate once stood. He stared at the hole, stunned. Memories of anger and helplessness came flooding back to him. Five years ago, he made a vow to end the Titans existence. Now… he would carry it out.

" _This ends now…_ " Eren hissed angrily. He turned his attention to the other cadets, who were still in shock. "This is it, people! Do or die!" He screamed, pulling out his blades. Eren swung around, screaming orders as he went up. "We have to take out the Colossal Titan! This is our chance! _Don't let it slip away!_ "

Passing through the smoke, Eren spun around through the air, landing on the wall. His eyes burned with anger at the monstrosity before him. " _It's been awhile…_ " he rasped venomously.

The Titan's eyes found Eren, as though they had heard what he said. It turned to face its opponent.

Eren ran towards his enemy. Anger and adrenaline coursed through his blood, making him move faster than he ever did in training. The Colossal Titan reared its arm back and sent it flying full force at the Wall. Eren leapt off the Wall as the arm made impact with it. As Eren hooked on to the Colossal Titan, it dragged its arm across, smashing the cannons.

Eren cursed. _He took out the cannons! He's intelligent after all!_ He had to take him down. Without the Colossal Titan, the other Titans had nothing!

The Colossal Titan shook its arm, causing Eren to jump off. Firing his 3DMG cables, Eren arced his way towards the nape. Once Eren was in position, he propelled towards the nape to deliver the killing blow.

The Titan, sensing it was in danger, released a blast of steam from its body. The sudden spout of steam pushed Eren back. He would've been blown farther away had his 3DMG cables not been anchored in the Titan's body.

Eren grunted, buffeted by the heat and pressure of the Colossal Titan's steam. After a few seconds, he felt the steam let up slightly. Taking advantage of the moment, Eren clicked the trigger on his 3DMG. Charging once more, he let out a battle cry and swung his blades.

Much to his surprise and dismay, he only cut empty air.

 _What?_ He thought, baffled by what was happening.

Hooking onto the wall, Eren searched his surroundings. But there was nothing. All that remained were trace amounts of rubble and steam.

The Colossal Titan had disappeared.

[-]

"Chief! Stop!" Cortana exclaimed.

The Spartan hit the brakes. The Warthog lurched from the sudden halt. "What is it Cortana?"

"The creature… it's disappeared."

"What?"

Chief turned his attention toward the gate. Lo and behold, the monster was gone. A creature as tall as a building, appeared in a flash and vanished without a trace. Such things were unfathomable to the super-soldier. So many things were going on that Chief wasn't sure if he could keep up with it all. But he would just have to deal with it for now.

"Doesn't matter." asserted Chief. "With that hole, those people are going to be needing all the help that they can get."

The giant monster was gone, but the smaller ones would surely start to enter the city. It would take time since the monsters were slow. But once they entered, people were going to start dying.

"Then I guess we better get a move on." Cortana spoke.

The Warthog began to move again, continuing on its path to the city in distress.

[-]

 **Author's Note** :

 **Before any of you say anything, please know that the last three months have been hell. College was like looking both ways at a crosswalk for cars, then being run over by the UNSC** _ **Infinity**_ **. Once the semester ended, I was sick from the stress and hours I pulled at finals.**

 **During the semester, I wanted to write and draw so badly for this fanfic. But I couldn't because I was so swamped by projects and fatigue. And every time I thought about this story, I just felt my guilt rising. Something that was supposed to be fun for me and for you, the readers, became a burden and a disappointment, respectively. I really don't want a repeat of my last story, so I'm trying to implement some changes.**

 **For instance, in order to have more frequent updates, the chapters are going to be shorter. Initially, I wrote 10-page chapters, but because of writer block and indecision, it took weeks (sometimes months) just to meet the quota. So now the chapters will be appx. 5 pages from now on. But because of this, I believe the story will have a better quality and flow to it.**

 **Due to chapters being shorter, I think that I could write more than just this story. But I'm not making any promises yet.**

 **As for my Deviantart, I'm hoping to get something up there shortly.**

 **But most of all, I want to apologize again for how you had to wait this long for a chapter and a response.**

 **Thank you for your patience. Peace out.**


	5. Chapter 5

**I don't own HALO or Attack On Titan.**

 **TITANOMACHY:**

 **CHAPTER 5:**

 **PREPARE FOR BATTLE:**

 **[-]**

Dejected that he couldn't slay the Colossal Titan, Eren returned back up to the top of the wall. There, he rejoined his friends. Thomas and Connie were the first to greet him. Both were unharmed, albeit still in shock from the attack.

"I'm sorry, guys…" Eren said, dejected. "I let him get away."

Thomas looked at Eren. "What are you apologizing for? We couldn't even move."

" _Hey!_ " Connie shouted. "Is this any time to chat?! The gate's been destroyed! If we don't plug it up fast, we're gonna have another Titan incursion!"

At that moment, a Garrison soldier arrived on the scene. "Look alive!" he yelled. "Operation: _Colossal Titan Response_ is in effect! You are to report back to HQ! If you encountered the Titan, you are to give full reports and then head to your posts!"

The cadets went to attention, saluting as they responded in unison. "Yes, sir!"

"Dismissed!"

The cadets started to pull out from the area. In the meantime, soldiers of the Garrison began to arrive on the scene. They immediately started setting up the undamaged cannons and prepared the other defenses.

The soldiers were so engrained in their preparations, none of them noticed a faint hum of an engine in the distance.

[-]

The Titan horde began its approach upon the destroyed Gate. The monsters were sparsely spaced initially. Soon, the Titans were bunching up in anticipation for entering the city.

In the meantime, the Garrison had managed to set up its defenses for the incoming assault. The defenses included multiple artillery squadrons, manning mobile and stationary cannons, as well as an entire division of Garrison soldiers with 3DMGs.

The artillery squadrons manned the cannons, loading and aiming them at their targets.

Once the Titans entered the cannons' range, the Garrison unleashed a volley of cannon-fire upon the monsters.

 _Boom! Boom! Boom!_

The results of the cannon-fire were scattered. Some had hit the Titans in their napes. Other shots disabled the Titans or flat-out missed.

The Garrison soldiers took advantage of the Titans' wounds, leaping of the Wall to attack.

One soldier saw an opening at a Titan whose head had been blown off. She fired her cable, hooking onto the Titan. The soldier whizzed toward the Titan's nape.

Suddenly, a large hand appeared out of nowhere, catching her. The soldier struggled and screamed. The last thing she saw were the enormous jaws of a Titan.

[-]

At the Garrison Armory adjacent to the river that ran through the city, soldiers and cadets alike were making rushed preparations. Gas canisters were filled. Cables were loaded. Blades were stocked. 3DMGs were checked and rechecked for complacency with standards.

Once every soldier was equipped and ready for combat, the Garrison Commander in charge of Trost, Captain Woerman, ordered everyone to fall in.

"I want everyone to split into four squadrons, as practiced. All squadrons are responsible for supply-running, message relay and enemy combat under the command of the Garrison Regiment! The Intercept Squad will take the Vanguard. Cadets will take the Middle Guard, led by full soldiers. Rear Guard will go to the elites. I expect you all to man your posts knowing that the advance team has been wiped out!"

The cadet's jaws uncontrollably dropped. Eyes widened. Many nervous swallows could be heard. _The advance team was gone?_ That meant the Titans were already within Trost.

"That's right, the outer gate is history. The Titans are in." Woerman confirmed. "This means that the Armored Titan is likely to reappear. If and when he does, the inner gate will also be history."

"Is this real?" A frightened cadet asked.

"Please be a dream." Another begged.

" _Quiet!_ " Woerman yelled, silencing everyone. "Right. Those in the Vanguard, get set. The whole area is saturated. Your mission is a very simple one. Defend the Wall until the evacuation is complete. Now be aware, all of you, that desertion is punishable by death! If it comes to it, lay down your lives!"

Woerman eyed all the cadets with a suspicious glare. It was as though he already knew who would desert. But it was difficult to tell, since everyone shared the same look of terror.

Finished intimidating potential deserters, Woerman decided to end his address. " _Dismissed!_ "

" _YES, SIR!_ "

[-]

Their orders given, the soldiers and cadets began to form up into their squads.

Jean was headed to his own squad. As he walked, the cadet was wondering just how this was happening. The entire situation was completely messing with his plans of joining the MPs. Not to mention that with where he was going, he'd probably be dead before nightfall.

"Why today?" he asked himself. "I would've been on my way to the interior tomorrow!"

Distracted by his hopeless situation, Jean wasn't watching where he was going. He ended up bumping into a cadet, who turned out to be none other than Eren.

Jean was immediately angry. "Move!" he yelled, not wanting to deal with Eren.

"Hey, Jean! What's wrong?!" Eren asked.

"What's wrong?!" Jean seethed. He whirled around, grabbing Eren by the collar. "Everything's wrong, you suicidal maniac! You want to join the Survey Corps! You're ready to be Titan-chow anytime! But I was headed for the interior-!"

Eren escaped Jean's grip before pinning him against a nearby column. "Calm down!"

" _You expect me to calm down and accept death?!_ "

" _No!_ Think back! Think back to the three years of sweat and blood we endured! We came close to dying so many times during those three years! Some people did die. Some ran off. Others were kicked out. But we survived! _Right?!_ I'm sure we can survive today, too! Survive just for today and leave for the interior tomorrow! _Got it?!_ "

Jean grit his teeth. He wanted to punch the self-righteous idiot. But then, Mikasa walked over. Jean didn't want to let her think that he was some coward, so he let it go. And—as much as Jean hated to admit it—Eren was right. As long as he survived today, he'd be in Wall Sina by tomorrow.

Jean shrugged Eren's arm off. As Jean was walking away, he called out to a crying cadet.

"Let's go, Daz! Quit your damn cryin'!"

With Jean gone, Mikasa went over to Eren.

"Eren," Mikasa said. "If the battle gets chaotic, come find me."

" _What?_ " Eren asked, taken aback. "We're in different squads!"

"If the situation falls apart, things won't go according to plan." Mikasa explained. "I'll protect you!"

"What the hell are you-?" But Eren was interrupted before he could finish by Squad Leader Ian Dietrich, Commanding Officer of the Rear Guard.

"Cadet Ackerman." Dietrich called out to Mikasa. "You're in the rear-guard. Special orders. Come with me."

Mikasa was completely caught off-guard by her assignment. "I-I'm not skilled enough!" She stuttered. "I'll only be a burden!"

"I am not asking for your opinion." Dietrich replied. "The citizens' evacuation is behind schedule. We need as many elite soldiers near them as possible. Report as soon as possible." The Squad Leader then went off to mobilize the rest of the Rear Guard.

"B-But!" Mikasa tried to protest. She was head-butted by Eren before she could say more. Her hands went up to her forehead, which she held in pain.

"Hey! Cut the crap, Mikasa!" Eren scolded. "Quit freaking out like everyone else! Humanity's on the verge of extinction here! This is no time to go and impose your own selfish rules!"

Mikasa lowered her hands, crestfallen. "I'm sorry." She apologized. "I wasn't thinking clearly."

Mikasa looked at Eren with pleading eyes. "I do have one thing to ask..." She murmured, reaching for Eren's sleeve.

" _Please don't die._ "

Eren glared at Mikasa, insulted by her request. He yanked his arm out of Mikasa's grasp. " _I ain't gonna die._ " Eren replied while walking away to his own squad.

With his back turned, he didn't see the fear and hurt upon Mikasa's face. The boy was too absorbed in his thoughts to notice. _I can't die yet! Because I still don't know what this world is really like!_

[-]

Engine rumbling, the Warthog carrying Master Chief and Cortana was closing in on the Gate.

"We're almost there!" Cortana said. "Just keep an eye out for—!"

 _Boom!_

"CANNONS!"

Chief turned the wheel. The Warthog swerved, avoiding a racing cannonball meant for the Spartan. The cannonball landed a bit behind them, exploding. Chief corrected his course as though nothing had happened.

"That was a close one." Chief said.

"I-I'll say." Cortana agreed, with a slight flicker.

Master Chief wasn't surprised by what just happened. In truth, he expected it. The soldiers on the Wall had no clue as to who or what he was and he had no way of letting them know he was a friendly. As far as the soldiers were concerned, they most likely assumed he was a strange monster joining the rest in the attack.

"How many monsters have gotten in so far?" Chief asked.

"About thirty for now." Cortana answered. "But there'll be more before long."

"Then we'll just have to get there before they do." Chief stated. He pressed down on the gas pedal. The Warthog sped up. They were only a hundred meters from the Gate.

Ninety meters. Seventy. Forty-five. Ten. Two. One.

They passed through the Wall. Within a moment they were on the other side. Master Chief and Cortana had entered the city.

"We're in!" Cortana said. "Now what?"

"We find some soldiers and find out what's going on." Chief answered.

"Everyone around here is dead." Cortana stated, noticing the destroyed defenses and mangled bodies. "We'll have better luck finding someone deeper in."

"Let's hope they're holding up."

[-]

Armin couldn't believe what was happening. One moment, he was sliding down a Titans throat. The next, he was back on the rooftop. Instead, inside the mouth of the Titan that attempted to eat Armin, was Eren.

The brown-haired cadet was battered and bruised, with his lower leg missing. Blood stained Eren's enraged face. He was—at the moment—fighting hard for the Titan not to swallow him.

Eren looked up at Armin with wild eyes.

" _ **I refuse to die here!"**_ Eren shouted. "Listen, Armin… You told me about it! So I have to see it! _The outside world!_ " Eren stretched out his bloodied hand toward Armin.

Armin snapped out of his fear-induced stupor. The blond boy scrabbled to grab Eren's hand.

" _EREN!_ "

The Titan chomped down, severing Eren's arm. Then it swallowed.

Armin stared at the Titan's lips, hyperventilating in horror. _Eren's…dead._

" _ **Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!"**_

[-]

Hearing a scream, Chief slowed the Warthog. The Spartan scanned the area. "Someone's in trouble."

"They sound like they're nearby." Cortana said.

The scream came again.

" _Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!"_

"It's coming from the next street!" Cortana exclaimed. "Chief, hurry!"

The Spartan did just that. He sped down the street, following the screams. Reaching the intersection, Chief made a sharp right turn.

As Master Chief turned the corner, he saw the source of all the screaming.

It was a young soldier with blond hair. He was on the rooftop of one of the buildings, wailing like a madman. In front of the soldier was a fifteen-meter tall monster with a gray beard. On the ground, near the monster's feet, was a severed hand.

Thinking quickly, Chief started honking the Warthog's horn.

 _Beeeeep! Beeeeep! Beeeeep! Beeeeep! Beeeeep! Beeeeep!_

The honking didn't gain the attention of the boy or the monster.

Chief stood up in his seat, waving his arms. "Hey!" he called out. _"Heeeey!"_

Again, the boy and the monster didn't notice.

"It's no use, Chief!" Cortana said. "The kid is in too much shock to notice and that creature is focused on its next meal!" Cortana then flickered, almost violently. _**"Leave him!"**_ She said in a distorted voice.

Chief was stunned by Cortana's statement, shocked even. But the Spartan hardened his eyes.

" _Not a chance._ "

Master Chief jumped out of the driver's seat. He reached into the back, grabbing his jetpack and mounting it on his back. The jetpack ignited, propelling the Spartan up to the rooftops.

Darting towards the boy and the monster, Chief saw the monster move its hand toward the boy. Whipping out his Magnum pistol, Chief fired two rounds into the monster's eye.

The monster recoiled from the pain, clasping its wounded eye with both hands.

Seeing his chance, Chief slid across the roof, grabbing the blond boy. Chief and the boy dropped from the roof towards the ground. Chief ignited his jetpack, flying them back to the Warthog.

The boy was limp as a ragdoll from the shock, making Master Chief's job easier. They reached the Warthog, hovering over it. Chief switched the jetpack off, dropping the boy into the passenger seat and himself into the driver's seat.

Chief backed the Warthog out of the street, skirting himself and the boy to safety.

 **Author's Note :**

 **Alright, we're back up again. Looking good so far. Glad that so many people were understanding.**

 **Now, one of the commenters asked if Master Chief would receive a pairing. The answer is yes, but not right away. First, we need Chief to kill some Titans. Then we can worry about his love life, okay? Also, Krista/Historia will be paired with someone, but not with Chief. (Seriously, the guy is old enough to be her grandpa.)**

 **BTW:**

 **MAKO**

 **Figure it out.**

 **Bye!**


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